


Night Witches (an origin)

by NicoNikoala



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A socialistic version of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel - Freeform, Historical, Historical References, actually a character mix, winter soldier - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 19:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18395108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoNikoala/pseuds/NicoNikoala
Summary: Based on the real history of Russian 588th Night Bomber Regiment. An origin story of female Winter Soldier, or a socialistic version of Captain Marvel.





	Night Witches (an origin)

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [暗夜女巫](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17427659) by [NicoNikoala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoNikoala/pseuds/NicoNikoala). 



> I wrote this in Chinese and translated into English with the help of Google (i think my english is not that poor :D). 
> 
> It is an origin story about female Russian Winter Soldier who was formerly a pilot. Or you can just consider it a combination of Winter Soldier and Captain Marvel. I don't know how western fandom treat character mix, but I think character mix might annoy some fans... It's fictional anyway (and i'm far away in china).
> 
> This story is very "socialistic"? Hope you guys can get it. It is based on the real history of the Night Withes.

 

** WARNING: from another culture you don't understand (maybe). **

* * *

She lied about her age to join the Red Army and was assigned to the medical team to lift the stretcher. She did her best, but was always unsatisfied with her job. Later, the women’s bomber regiment was recruiting. She dropped the lunch box on the ground out of excitement. To say that it was an air regiment, it was better to say that it is a suicide regiment - girls were asked to drive agricultural aircrafts and perform the same tasks as male pilots. The planes were woody and easily to burn, with no parachutes nor radars. Those tasks depended not only on skills but also on luck. She felt ok with that. Compared with those who had barely attended school, she had a stronger belief that the laborers would do much in the new society that she fought for. In her free time, she occupied the flight manual and read it over and over again. She was good at mathematics from a young age, and thus fascinated by the technical details of those planes. How would planes break through the sound barrier? Would humans sail in space one day? Once a college student came to teach physics. She could never get enough discussion with him so that everyone thought there was a romance between them.

The bombing missions were always at night. When they were close to the target, they would shut down the engines to silence the noise. The planes were too small to be detected by radars or infrareds. The wings' vibrations produced a "squeaky" sound, like the witches' brooms. German soldiers called them "the Night Witches". She felt lucky compared to her companions who sacrificed. Or she was just born with a connection to machines to have a better control. Once she was shot down but survived. She disguised in the civilians and was not found by the German ground forces. Soon she returned to combat. She thought this was the closest time to death - to live next flight or to die for real.

Falling in the burning plane seemed to be the end of her life, but then she woke up with an iron arm. An officer-like person told her that the Soviet Union won the world war, and now motherland had a more important task for her. She considered it a recruitment for special forces. In fact, she wanted to go home, and even to college. She wanted to be a pilot, but was too dizzy to speak an opinion. After a few days she was taken to a training base. A colonel talked about enemies of socialism, Americans' study of superpowers, and dedication to the motherland.

She tried to stay optimistic, to adapt to the new prosthetic, and not to drop behind the training progress among other male elite soldiers. She could calculate the trajectory, but never learned to assassinate. She could distinguish all types of screws, but never comprehend the French dining etiquette. She didn't want to be an agent. She asked to apply for another force but was told that "she had a special potential". She looked for her friends from her former regiment, but was told to keep all confidence. She asked the doctor to inquire about her group and was told that the three women units were all disbanded. "Women's duties are in maternal love." She read the pieces of newspapers stolen in a pill box and didn't quite understand. What did motherland ask from her?

She remembered Captain America who looked exactly as people in American magazines, but spoke with elegance not like an American: "you are real heroes." She remembered Raskova, leader of the aviation group and mentor for all, who would play the piano and recite poetry for the troop, and praised her as a "young pioneer of the new era." She remembered her friend Maria, a mechanic and a simple girl who wanted nothing but marriage. The day before her sacrifice, she said "you are the only one of us with a future." She slipped out of the door late at night and walked aimlessly in the snow. She did not encounter any villages nor roads. Where to go? She thought of Leningrad, of the United States, and of her home.

She woke up again in intense pain. The sting caused by the metal needle on her head was transmitted to the end of her spine. She could not move against restraints on her limbs. Her mind was blank, and then a voice said "mission report." From then on, her memory was fragmented, sometimes a head in the sniper scope, sometimes a burning house, sometimes a star. Why she would believe by any way that people could travel beyond the first, the second, even the third cosmic speed to reach the Ursa Major. Why did she dream about the voyage in the starry sky?

The Avengers are tracking down a mysterious agent, or a mysterious unstable person - the Russian officer who controlled the agent was found dead in the hotel. He - most likely she - has a nerve-controlled metal left arm, can use a variety of weapons, has strong anti-search ability. The SHIELD helicopters are hovering over an abandoned building, and each exit is aimed by snipers.

She knew these people - her memory was a little more stable. She could recognize words on computers - Black Widow, another Soviet agent trained in the facility, but now working for the Americans; Iron Man, a downright capitalist, but praised as the pioneer of technology; Captain America, once an ally from World War II, reunited with her dramatically in the new century. She imagined the inner of the Captain: What if he finds that the victory he had fought for was gone? What if he finds himself missing the nuclear deterrence and moon landing? What if he finds himself missing the Vietnam and the Gulf War? She is not Captain America after all. The America dream is changed, but still there.

She struggled to sit up with her deformed iron arm and cursed in Russian. Iron Man asked "What did she say?" Black widow did not answer. "Mom? Where is my mother?" She shouted in English. Iron Man said, "I'm afraid your mother is not here anymore." She shook her head. "But where is motherland?"

* * *

 

See [Night Withes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches) here.

 


End file.
